1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of broadband wireless communications, and in particular, to a network architecture that allows for shared resources among service providers.
2. Statement of the Problem
Broadband wireless technologies are being deployed by service providers to provide communication services to their customers. The network architectures being used in this deployment maintain a physical separation between the equipment of the different service providers. This physical separation avoids conflicts between service providers and allows each service provider to maintain their own quality-of-service. Different service providers operating in the same area also use different wireless spectrum for the same reason.
This physical separation also prevents resource sharing among service providers. Unfortunately, the inability to share resources inhibits multiple service providers from leveraging their combined traffic volumes to improve economies of scale and lower unit costs. Thus, each service provider is faced with higher costs. Typically, the higher costs are passed on to the customers of the service providers.
Wireless communication systems use various frequency spectra to transfer wireless communication signals. Microwave systems use spectrum between one gigahertz (GHz) and 30 GHz where one GHz equals one billion cycles per second. Free-space optical systems use spectrum above 10 THz where one THz equals one trillion cycles per second.
Weather events adversely affect wireless systems transmitting above 10 GHz. To address the weather problem, free-space optical systems have been combined with weather-resilient microwave systems transmitting at 2.4 GHz. Upon failure of the free-space optical system due to a weather event, the microwave system is used to transfer traffic formerly carried by the free-space optical system. Since the microwave system does not have the capacity to transfer all of this traffic, the traffic must be prioritized, so the higher priority traffic can be transferred while the lower priority traffic is stored for subsequent transmission. Thus, the transfer of the lower priority traffic is delayed, and if there is not enough storage, portions of the lower priority traffic may be lost altogether.